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Dene
Nation Elders Gathering -Tulita, NT
March 4-9, 2002.
1. Keeping the Past for the Future
"A Way of Life”- the history before European contact
The elders mentioned that before contact with Europeans the Dene
people used to gather at a central location for games, renewed friendships,
dances and spiritual ceremonies. Different groups had their own
gathering place as in the Sahtu area, Tulita was the center for
traditional gathering of the people from that region. It was a simple
way of life based on respect for nature and animals. “Although
things were not written down in those days, the elders’ words
and advice were still carried forward and lived on. Our forefathers
may have had a hard life but still they led good lives and lived
well. There were only native people living here so there were no
outside influences. A young girl was taught by her mother the roles
and responsibilities of being a woman. A boy was taught by his father
how to hunt and provide for himself from the land. It was like this
all over our land.”
2. Keeping our Dene Spirituality, Culture, Traditions and Language
Traditional Families: marriages. Birthing, parenting, initiation
and death
The elders talked about traditional families based on teachings
from parents and elders. Traditional knowledge was passed on through
story telling to the children “so they may pass it on to
their children and their children’s children and this will
continue far into the future. All our good stories will never disappear”.
The elders had a wealth of traditional knowledge and stories to
share. “When parents talked it was very important for the children
to listen to them and heed their advice just as importantly as listening
to your grandparents. Long ago the elders talked to us about everything
pertaining to life and they gave us a lot of good advice that we
still live by for life.” The elders were respected because
they were considered as men of privilege and honour because of their
traditional knowledge and wisdom.
“A long time ago when our young people were betrothed to
marry they did not see each other. In those days, this custom was
practiced so that the engaged couple would always long for one another,
and wanted to be together always when they become a couple. That’s
was the way it used to be a long time ago.” The man respected
the woman and the woman respected the man.
The rituals of becoming women were similar among the Dene people.
A Gwich’in elder said that “long ago when a young girl
became a woman a tent set-up for her to be off on her own. She was
taught to set up the tent as well as how to lay down spruce boughs
on the floor of the tent. She also tended to the fire and the firewood.
She was taught to always pile the wood properly; because you have
to respect the wood that gives you heat.” Another from
the Sahtu region said, “My mother said she was young when
she experienced the ritual of becoming a woman. They made them run
out on the land until they dropped from fatigue and that is where
they built a small cabin for them. They also wore hats with large
rims so that they couldn’t look directly at anyone. Their last
three fingers on both sides of their hands as well as their wrist
and both ankles were all bonded with white hide. When they were
in the mountains and during the time of their monthly they were
not allowed to walk on the common trails, they had to walk on the
side of the trail and they also carried a cane which they had to
swing back and forth as they walked. Whenever a woman was on her
monthly she was very mindful of the things that she did.” These
practices were initiation of the young girl into womanhood.
The young girls were also taught to be mindful of certain traditions
and customs. “My grandmother told me you never rush when
you sew. As well, you never let the threaded needle go the whole
length of your arm, because the length of your arm is like your
lifeline. So every time you measure your thread by the length of
your arm it’s like shortening your lifeline and you may not
live to be very old. These were the kinds of advice we were given.”
Such advice and practices formed the basis of traditional family
values, spirituality and customs.
When a child was born the women assisted with the childbirth. They
helped each other and sewed all of the baby’s clothes. “When
it was a woman’s time to deliver then everyone helped out.
There was no medicine, no sheets or blankets, even then they managed.
That’s the way we lived as people all over on our land.”
Besides being taught how to live off the land the young people were
taught some ritual customs. One elder mentioned that “long
ago if you were going to be a pallbearer you had to fast for three
days and you did not sleep. You were only given broth to drink.
Also when you made a campfire you were told not to sit in the direct
heat of the fire that way you learn to endure the cold. As well
when we shot caribou we were told to not use an axe to chop the
bones as you would suffer from such things as arthritis in the future.
We were taught never be disrespectful to another person. Now none
of the young people know or follow these customs.”
Traditional Communities & Spirituality:
Leaders, warriors, spiritual guidance, justice & celebrations.
Whenever and wherever the people gathered they usually perform traditional
ritual ceremonies. Feeding of the fire was one such common tradition
that was practiced. “This is part of our culture that was
practiced by our Elders. These are the rituals we need to continue
to practice as our Elders long before our time did so that it is
not forgotten.”
Among the Dene people there was deep spiritual respect for land
and animals. This was based on traditional consideration for the
land that provided the animals that the people depended on for survival.
Whenever and wherever they traveled, they gave thanks to the spirit
of “the elders that went through this land before us and
pray for the little ones that (are) coming behind us, so keep the
land and water stay as pure as it is and hope it stays that way.”
They also made small offerings to nature and animals; “If I
camp out and have lunch anywhere, if I have any left over (and there
are) whisky jacks around or whatever I put a little food out to
the side for them and thank them and I keep on going.”
This type of practice among the Dene people is an expression of
sincere and genuine respect for nature.
“When we feel bad we go to the elders and they talk to us
and then we feel better. That is what we call spirituality.”
This is part of spirituality as other aspects include respect for
elders, nature, and animals. “Part of the spiritual is like
what my father told me when you walk past an elder, you must always
address them as elders this is being respectful.”
Dene spirituality is based on stories that were handed down by word
of mouth from generation to generation. These stories had their
own explanation about creation, visions, animals, and some natural
force. These formed the basis of some moral code of how people should
behave and how they should treat the land and animals. These in
turn have become a fixed belief in the traditions and culture of
the Dene people.
Traditional Harvesting:
Hunting, harvesting, traditional boundaries and awareness of the
land, cycles, the ultimate respect of the environment and our original
use.
Traditional harvesting involved all aspects of subsistence activities.
The elders talked about being aware of the land and the surroundings.
Respect was shown to the land and animals so that there will be
plenty for others who follow later. Taking only what you need was
respect and a way of conserving the animals of the land that the
Dene depended on for their livelihood. An elder said “you
must treat the meat from whatever game you shoot respectfully as
it provides food and nourishment for us. In those days there was
no such thing as throwing away bones as we taught to use everything.”
Another mentioned that “when a man goes hunting he never brings
his kill in through the front public entrance of the tent. They
always brought the fresh meat through the back of the tent that’s
how respectful they were of the wildlife that they killed. Nowadays,
meat is handled any old way and cut up anywhere.” This
is part of the spiritual respect for land and animals. Traditional
harvesting was not only having the skills to live off the land,
but also to have an understanding of the animals and environment.
These inter-relate with other aspects and quality of Dene spiritual
tradition and culture.
Traditional Healing:
Traditional healing took in all forms; it was not only the healing
of a physical injury and getting one’s health back. It was
used to resolve some conflict with another person to restore mutual
understanding and friendship. It was used to free and clean your
mind from evil thoughts to bring harm to someone. It was a way to
restore mental and physical peace within yourself. This was the
reason in some tribes that young men went on vision quest to “take
a look at your inner self. Once your mind is healing, it take place
in you, you have a good life.”
Traditional healing in a simple explanation is a form of restoration.
It was used to bring back something to the way it used to be. “Once
the healing take place in your heart and your soul and the water
will be heal too, the land, the tree will be heal too and the fish
will be heal too. When we do that our land will be healed.”
The elders at this gathering are trying to find ways to restore
and bring back traditional culture among the young people; this
is part of traditional healing.
3. Sacred Prophecies
Visions and mandates:
Vision is part of Dene spirituality. It is a power of seeing something
and interpreting it as something that will happen now or in the
future. It is one of those strange powers that some Dene people
have or are born with. Some elders mentioned that long ago there
were medicine men among the Dene people who could anticipate what
was to come. There was such a man, a Dene prophet, who lived among
the Mountain people. He told the people that “in the future
there will be many boats going down the river. After the boats go
through the rivers with the barge all the way down to the arctic
coast and the end of that will be a really beautiful boat will come
down. A casino boat will come down the Mackenzie and that’s
where it’s gonna take all your children away. Once that happen
there’s no turning back to the elders.” It is one
prophecy that is yet to be fulfilled. Since then there have been
many boats and barges with supplies to the communities. The prophecy
indicates the inevitable change that was to come among the Dene
people that will impact and did impact on their traditional life
styles.
An elder spoke about his grandfather and how his parents continued
to tell his stories. He said all the things that his grandfather
and other elders spoke about are now coming to pass. There is a
lot more yet to happen but only more into the future. He also spoke
about the decrease in wildlife and shortage of other living things
and that is still yet to come.
Meeting and fulfillment of prophecies:
Some of the things the elders spoke about we are experiencing today.
They mentioned that today some of our people are not following our
traditional and cultural ways. An elder mentioned this was the reason
“why we are facing a lot of headships” today. Another
elder spoke about something that his father predicted would happen.
A time will come when “all over the north we face the problem
of cigarette addiction, young people are losing their language,
there shall be alcohol addiction as well as gambling, addictions
and now it is coming to pass. Another thing my father told me is
that a time will come when the rainbow will no longer be seen and
when that happens we will be facing great hardships.” Such
predictions of some of these events have come true. Today we are
experiencing addictions and other abnormal behaviours among our
people. The young people are losing their language. Pollution has
created smog over cities in the south that at times obscures the
sun and rainbow.
Language is an essential and important part of any culture. Once
it is lost then the culture itself will suffer and eventually may
no longer exist. All the elders spoke of loss of language among
our young people. One elder said; “Our language is a gift
from our Creator so we must do what ever to keep it alive otherwise
we will lose it. It has been said that a time will come when all
people will speak one language and that time is coming to pass.”
The reference here to the one language is most likely the English
language. It has become the primary working language among the Dene
people and other Native peoples across Canada and the United States.
4.
Impacts of Issues facing the Dene Today
Impact of residential school:
The residential school in the north began shortly after the arrival
of the Grey Nuns. Children were taken from their parents to be educated.
The residential schools were primarily established to educate and
christianize the aboriginal children. An elder said; “I
remember living here (Tulit’a) as a child in about 1929 and
in 1930 we were sent to residential school from here and in the
fall of 1935 was the last time I saw my older brother near Fort
Providence at Wrigley Harbour.” Children were taken away
from parents at early age sometimes never to see some family members
again.
Children were forbidden to speak their language and learn new ways.
This resulted in loss of language, loss of identity and loss of
culture. An elder said; “We thought that if our children
were formally educated it would be an advantage to them instead
the children ended up losing their language and way of life and
that is the reality we are facing today.” The children
lost their traditional spirituality through the religious teachings
at the residential schools. A former residential elder said; “I’ve
been listening and a lot of people mentioning god and all that,
since residential school I’ve never believe in nothing I didn’t
want to. They killed the god aspect of my life.”
The emotional, mental and physical abuse left a lasting negative
image on many of the former residential students. The residential
school left a deep emotional scar on some of the people. One elder
said; “Sometimes when I still talk about it I still feel
like the way I felt that time.”
The establishment of the residential school was the beginning of
assimilation. It was the beginning of fitting into and adopting
the social patterns of another culture. As a result the children
loss some aspects of their traditions and culture, including the
ability to speak their own language.
Family issues:
All the elders expressed some concern with the young people of today.
The young people no longer listen to their parents or grandparents.
They lack traditional knowledge and don’t seem to be interested
in hearing or learning about their culture. “Once they started
school it’s like they develop their own way of thinking and
feel like they don’t have to listen to us.” It seems
as someone else is raising your children. “Because our children
are going to school and being formally educated, they are not listening
to us they way they should be. The children are not being respectful
of their parents because they only listen to their teachers. It
seems like this is the situation all over our land.” Their
attitude shows total lack of respect for parents and elders.
“Nowadays it almost seems like we have given our children totally
to the schools and their teachers. That is one of the reasons we
are facing these difficulties with our young people.”
Today discipline of children borders on the edge of government social
laws. “Nowadays, if you try to discipline a child, even
if you touch them, they can get you charged. That’s the way
it is these days.” Government laws sometimes hinder traditional
child rearing. Government laws and regulations also hinder traditional
activities. “Nowadays, if you trap before or after the trapping
season date you can get charged for that. It seems like all these
laws and policies are set up to hinder our livelihood. So it seems
like we are no longer free to live our traditional lifestyle on
our own land.” Government legislation and regulations should
not conflict with nor infringe upon the right of the Dene people
to pursue their traditional life styles and activities on the land.
“Living in town constantly and being raised that way is
the reason why we are facing difficulties now. Because of outside
influences it seems like elders words are no longer honoured when
spoken.”
Today the Dene people have become too dependent on modern things
and the young people have also learned to be dependent on these
things. Very few of them know how to provide for themselves on the
land. “We have adapted a lot of things from the white people.
I think that’s the reason why we started losing our culture.”
In larger communities “there are many cultures from all
over the world never mind trying to deal with only our Dene culture,
that’s what makes it so hard to try to deal with problems.”
Dene parents have to compete with modern distractions such as video
games, which are more interesting than listening to elders’
stories or listening to parents. Going out on the land with the
young people is an option. But some elders say that this has been
tried and find that the youth get bored and want to go back to town.
Some elders say; “This is our fault as parents because we
no longer go out on the land ourselves.” So in some communities
there is lack of traditional on-land activities. The elders want
to help “but there is a language barrier so we are unable
to communicate” because “the majority of the young people
speak English which is not our language and not all of us speak
or understand English.” In some isolated communities some
of the youth still speak their language and practice traditional
activities. While in other places when “we meet on the road
and we all turn into white people. We don’t speak our language
at all.”
Young men and women quit school or training programs because they
get a job at the mines or some other company. Other people come
into the communities attracted by the development and that creates
social problems. Young people get into trouble with the law because
they have money to buy alcohol and drugs. They don’t know how
to manage their money. Some get into serious trouble and end up
serving time in jail. These are some of the negative effects of
economic development.
The young people have to be taught about their culture, language
and history of their people. There has to be more youth involvement
at gatherings and assemblies. There also should involvement of youth
in community meetings. “All over our land we are all facing
the same problems. Every one of us as Elders sitting here, we all
know from our own upbringing how much things have changed these
days as opposed to then.” Some young people get into trouble
with the law and “they are sent to jail and they do not
gain anything from the experience so it’s important for elders
to be involved in the sentencing of the youth.” Dependence
on store bought food has increased over the years. “Our
traditional wildlife was put on our land for us to harvest as food.
Store bought food is not our traditional diet, maybe that’s
why we have so many different sicknesses these days.” One
of the speakers said that “cattle such as cows are injected
with drugs to make them grow faster and these are the kinds of meats
we buy in the stores. Also the poultry that they raise, such as
chicken, are also injected with drugs to make them grow faster and
they still have these chemicals in them when we buy and eat them,
that’s why our people are getting sick.”
Most of the elders say that for the young people to gain back their
traditional culture they need to go back to the land. “It’s
up to us to teach them, it’s up to us to remind them, and it’s
up to us to take them out” on the land. Parents must teach
their children the Dene traditional ways. In order for a culture
to survive it has to be practiced and used at home, in the community
and out on the land.
Cancer:
In the past the Dene people had suffered from normal human sickness
just as colds and flu, and some accidental injuries. Nowadays some
Dene people are suffering from strange and abnormal sickness. Strange
sickness such as cancer can be the result of improper operation
of mines and other exploration activities. An elder said, “I
lost my mom about six years ago to cancer. Just recently I lost
my son too, 26 years old by cancer again too. This thing was brought
back from Deline through the rapids and through the Mackenzie here.
I guess in one time they stored that place where I live today. All
along I didn’t know nothing about it till 1991.” The
government finally removed the material, but he still doesn’t
know if it’s really safe now. It’s understandable that
some people are hurt and angry. The Dene people, who worked as labourers
in these camps, were not told or given proper information about
the possible and potential dangers of mining. “You just
kind of wonder why, why weren’t we told back those days this
was gonna be something that we gonna be hurt by.”
Another elder said, “Where I am from we are facing a lot
of problems with poisoning from the existing mines. If we learn
more about this cancer from the work being done around Port Radium
and Uranium City maybe we will be able to do something about it.
In the past our people worked at both the mines and they used to
pack the raw radium in a bag over their shoulders all day and that’s
how a lot of our people used to work and it’s only after that
we find out that the radium is poisonous and that is why so much
of our people are dying off from cancer.”
The workers lacked proper information on handling dangerous mining
materials. They didn’t know their health would be affected
by the mining operations. The government should have at least tried
to notify former mine workers once they found out about the dangers
of radioactivity.
Land Claims and Self Government:
Not too much was said directly about land claims and self-government.
Most of the discussion centered around young people and the loss
of language and tradition. One elder did say that “we had
self government before white people came, our elders were our government
we went by their teaching, by their rules and we lived that way,
everybody was happy. There’s no reason why we can’t get
back on track there again.”
The President of Dene Nation said: “There’s been a
battle in the courts for awhile on taxation part of Treaty 8 it’s
call the Beniot case. I was just informed that the court ruled in
favour of Mr. Benoit, which is very good news for us.”
This could mean that the government will finally recognize that
the Dene people don’t pay taxes. It could also mean that different
regions could include this recognition in their final self-government
negotiation package. All along “our people have always said
that the treaty is powerful and we are not suppose to pay taxes.”
Major Economic Projects and the imminent impact:
All the elders in their own way expressed concerns about damage
to the environment and how development has impacted the land. In
the past government and exploration companies went on the land and
started working. There were no consultations with the local people.
They brought in their own workers so very few local people got work
on the sites. In most cases once the work was done the company left
without cleaning up, leaving garbage and other material behind that
polluted the ground and water. An elder said, “Nowadays
our trees are diminishing; as well our water is not fresh like in
the past. These are the impact of development.” Another
elder agreed and said, “Whatever we never saw long ago is coming
into our land now. The food, and all the animals, are all different
now.” Environmental damage of traditional lands impacts
and reduces traditional on-land activities.
Major development does not only impact the environment, but if it
is left unchecked it can impact the health of the people in the
surrounding areas. Certain traditional areas will no longer be used
because of possible contamination and pollution. “The water
in all the rivers and creeks flow together as one and should be
like our blood and a means of survival as a people, even that is
now all polluted. Because the water is all polluted and poisoned
it affects all the marine life that we still depend on to live and
that we still eat. Not only as a people we are getting poisoned
but our forests are also getting poisoned. Exploration on our land
has caused our land to become contaminated. It is like they are
removing blood from mother earth, and as a result the wildlife,
such as big game, the waterfowl and other birds, the fish, the trees,
willows and every other living species on our land and ourselves
as people and all our waters are all getting poisoned by the contamination
on the earth.”
Major development can also have negative impact on the social fabric
of a community. Increase in local wage economy creates a have and
have-not society. This in turn creates conflicts leading to mental
and physical abuse. Increase in local wage economy also creates
easy access to alcohol and drugs. Then drug and alcohol abuse increases
that disrupts family lifestyles. People are no longer interested
in pursuing traditional on-land activities. “Our land is
no longer being utilized for trapping and hunting activities so
there is a lot of our land that is not being used.” Modern
development, coupled with possible pollution damages, certainly
minimizes traditional subsistence activities.
There are no real social or economic benefits from major development.
The local people have to be involved from the beginning of any development
project. Elders should be used for their traditional knowledge of
the impacted areas. Nowadays the people do not benefit from the
resources that are taken from their land. “The government
will be the only ones who will be getting rich from this and we
will continue to be poor on our own homeland which, they are exploiting.”
Language Preservation:
All the elders at this gathering have said that we are losing some
of our Dene culture. The big concern here is loss of language use
among the young people. Suggestions were made to take the young
people back onto the land to revive the culture. “If we
teach our children how to live off the land, talk to them in our
language in our home and community, and work with them out in the
bush, maybe then they’ll start taking back their language and
culture.”
One elder said, “Our language is disappearing because our
children are being only formally educated.” They are not
being taught language and tradition in the schools. There is a way
that we can take advantage of the changes that are taking place
today and use the educated young people. “We can collect
the elder’s life story; we can collect all the knowledge that
they have. Even if we don’t do anything with it today a hundred
years from now our children will have that information.”
This is one way to document and preserve the culture and languages
of the Dene people.
5. Words of Wisdom for our children to live a respectful and sacred
way of life
How living our culture transfers our values.
“Through the Aboriginal Elders’ teachings, our community
is able to contribute to the preservation of our history and pass
them on for future generations”.
The elders all say the same thing about the importance of the elders’
teachings of the past. “Whatever the Elders have told us
in the past was to help us to be able to provide for ourselves in
all aspects that is why it is important to keep and live by our
Elders’ words.” The elders at this gathering all talked
about being raised on the land, being taught to provide for themselves
and to be independent.
There are many Dene people on this land and they all live the same
way. “My father used to tell me although we speak different
dialects and live in different parts of the land we are still one
people. My father used to tell me that children live by what they
learn and see.” This is how children use to learn about
their tradition and culture. They learned where the good fishing
places were, where caribou gather at certain times of the year,
they learned about these things in order to survive. Later on in
live they followed these traditional teachings of the parents and
elders.
“I remember elders telling me to respect the land as it
provides for you. If you take care of the land, then the land will
provide for you, but if you abuse the land, then you will always
have a hard time to provide for yourself. That’s what my father
and other elders use to tell me. I have always lived by my father’s
words up until today I have never been in trouble with anyone because
I listen to my father’s advice. When our elders talk to us
they always speak nothing but the truth that’s why it’s
very important to listen to their advice.”
“My grandmother talk to me about a lot of different things,
not only for me, it was also for the future she used to talk to
me. She used to let your children forget their culture and traditional
way of life such as living on the land. If they do not have this
knowledge even if they are formally educated it’s not good
enough if they do not know how to survive off the land.”
The elders know the importance of education today, but the young
must be taught not to lose sight of their tradition and culture.
One elder recalled that when he came home from school he “did
not know where I stand, either to live the way of the white culture
or Dene culture. So I learn both, whatever is good I used. I use
the Dene culture and I used the white culture, what is good I used,
and stored it up in my heart.” The young people are in
a position to take advantage of both cultures and yet still maintain
their Dene traditions and culture.
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